Where are we Now?
by I-Emperical
Summary: This is a continuing story following the kids of Ms. Frizzle's class as they are in the TV show. A mysterious incident has occurred, and Ms. Frizzle has been separated from her class, who are now scattered in a strange, dark place. Nobody can remember exactly what happened, and they may still be in danger... NOTE: there is no slash. I may or may not update regularly.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It wasn't long after the impact that Arnold came to consciousness. He looked around himself and was disgruntled with the result: whatever environment he found himself within was plunged into total darkness. Already skewed by the brightness of the flash, his eyesight wouldn't enable itself beyond half a foot beyond his face. _I knew I should have stayed home today,_ he thought nervously.

Gingerly he brought himself to his feet, groping at whatever he could find in the process. To his immediate fright, the only solid thing he came into contact with was the floor itself; even then, he didn't know if it was stable, though it felt smooth. The only thing he could do without putting his person into inevitable danger was to cry out from where he was.

"Hello?" Arnold called softly at first, his voice wavering with fright. He tried again, a little louder. "Hello? Is there anybody else here...?"

The answer didn't come as soon as would satisfy, but it came nevertheless. The voice that carried it was gratifyingly familiar.

"Hello? Arnold, is that you? ...Are you in here too?"

Arnold jumped. His heart began to hammer in his chest as he replied: "Keesha? Keesha, it's me! It's Arnold- where are you?"

"I don't know- where are you? I'll try walking over to you!"

"Wait- don't move! I'll try-"

With that, Arnold began to run forward towards the source of the second party's voice; partly out of joy for company, and more so from terror of the omnipresent shade. After running what felt like a mile, he bashed into a large object roughly the size of himself, stumbling him and sending him sprawling on the floor. A loud _"Oof!"_ came from the object, and a second thump was heard. Keesha's voice followed with a moan.

"Oww! Arnold, are you okay?"

"Owww- yeah, I'm fine." He was gripped with a feeling of hesitation. "That is you, Keesha, isn't it?"

"Arnold, of course it's me!" She gripped his hand and helped him up. By this time, the proven presence of a second person in this unknown place made Arnold feel somewhat safer. It would be easier to face any sort of danger with someone else with him rather than himself all alone. He looked up, and discovered that he could see the faint outline of Keesha's face and eyes. Keesha found this, too. Since some time had passed without any exposure to any other sort of light, they found their night vision was beginning to kick in.

"So, you're here too... do you think anybody else is here with us?"

Keesha paused to think. "I don't know. I don't remember seeing anybody else... hang on. What exactly happened back there?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... how did we get here? Wasn't there-"

"A flash." Arnold completed her sentence. "There was a bright light... kind of like a flash. I could feel myself falling... Keesha, do you think we are dead?"

"Arnold, let's get the facts. I am talking to you, and you crashed into me back there. Right? So that must mean we are not dead. We can still feel and hear each other."

"I guess so..." Arnold's tell-tale worry was heavy in his voice. "So we are still here, then..."

"Of course," she responded. "But I don't know about the others. Maybe they're... or maybe the Friz... Arnold, what are we going to do?"

"I wish I knew."

There was a short pause as Keesha tried to think. Arnold knelt cautiously on the floor and rested his head on his knee. Every so often, Keesha would mutter things to herself as she struggled to work things out in their impossible situation. The only thing that would set an absolution was a final decision.

At length, Keesha tapped Arnold's shoulder. "The best thing I can come up with is to explore this weird place. We won't get anything done if we're just sitting here."

Arnold let out a long sigh. "I guess you're right... I'd thought of that earlier, too. But I didn't think it was a good idea. What if we find something dangerous?"

"Well, there's one way to find out." Keesha turned away from him and hollered into the murk as loud as she could:

"_Hello! Is there anything out there? 'Cause if there is, you'd better come out and show yourself... or selves!"_

Arnold leapt to his feet, grasped her shoulder, and spoke in a loud whisper. "Don't do that! You'll attract whatever is out there _to_ us!"

"Shh- wait! Listen-"

A long silence set into the room as the children remained absolutely still, waiting for something to respond. The only sound came from the quickened breathing of the terrified Arnold, still clutching Keesha's shoulder. There was no audible noise coming from afar.

"I don't hear anything, Arn-"

"Wait! Just a little more-"

There was another long silence, which heralded the same result. Keesha glanced at Arnold with a smirk as his breathing gradually slowed its pace.

"Well, shall we go?" She asked him.

The orange-haired boy sighed. "Ladies first," he groaned.

The pseudo-exploration began by picking a direction; which was pretty much the same way they were facing. Arnold swallowed hard and glanced at Keesha, but she frowned and pushed on forward. There was no turning back now, and he knew it just as well as she.

It was difficult to tell where exactly they were going, or what they would encounter. Fortunately, there was a determined motive to keep them going: find the other kids, Ms. Frizzle, Liz, or the Bus; or, if they were really lucky, all of the above. There were elements of this strange, obscure place that could be used to determine the nature of its identity. For instance, every so often, a cold breeze would rush through the area and permeate Arnold and Keesha's bodies, causing them to shiver. They knew from experience that some caves had holes in their walls, stirring up evidence that they were in some sort of vast, dark cavern. However, the same clue could suggest that they were in some kind of immense and ancient forest, abundant with enormous trees with massive canopies to trap the darkness. A significant argument to this claim could be made that there were no material forms about them such as trunks, shrubs, ferns, or columns, stalactites, or giant stones. For all the two knew, they could be in a football stadium at nightfall. And yet, there was also a certain smell to the atmosphere; one of an odd familiarity that they couldn't exactly place.

Presently, Arnold, desperate for a sound beyond his beating heart and footsteps, broke the silence.

"Keesha," he said softly. "How long have we been walking?"

"I have no honest idea," she answered him doubtfully. "It feels like we've been walking for an hour at least. Actually, I really can't say. We've got to find somebody soon!"

"Maybe we should stop for a while... you know, to get our bearings in this huge place."

"Maybe you're right," she admitted. "But we're not giving up. Right, Arn?" Keesha hated giving up. Such a move was only a last resort. She knew of Arnold's propensity to give up, however.

"No, we're not giving up." This surprised Keesha until he concluded his sentence. "But what else is there to do?"

The girl sighed. "Well, we can't just leave them. I can't imagine doing such a thing."

"What if we are moving away from them, though? What if while we are exploring, we're just getting farther away?" Arnold swallowed hard.

"Arnold, don't say things like that!" Keesha was indignant. "We _will_ find them. I know we will!"

"I hope you're right." As Arnold's statement floated into the gloom, nothing more was spoken.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

"Well, this is a real mess," Tim mused to himself as he struggled his way through a vast forest of tall, fibrous, and vaguely soft tree trunks. Travelling was a slow and arduous process: the ground was uneven; the space around him was thick with the bizarrely formed trees; and, to top it off, it was exceedingly dim to the point of total obscurity. Cavernous silence emphasized the sound of his footsteps and breathing- but he was not frightened. Instead, he felt lonely, and detected no apparent danger or doom at any point around him.

What felt like great lengths of time passed by at an elephantine rate; he could almost feel the seconds go by. His creative imagination began to run by his rationale, and he found himself talking to himself to quell the gentle dread building up in his mind.

"Quite a mess indeed." His voice was hesitant. "Oh well, once I get out of this thing, I'll find the others and we'll all form a plan or something."

The 'or something' part didn't ease his unease. At that moment, Tim stopped altogether and clicked his heels, breathing deeply in defiance.

"This is getting me absolutely nowhere. I've been walking for ages and letting worry get to me. I need to make a plan for myself and stick to it."

He settled upon the decision to move forward and only forward, altering his course only to navigate around a tree in his way. Then he would continue on the straight path he'd set upon. The formation of a chosen route to freedom gave him courage, and he pushed on with his heart full of hope and his head held high.

Unfortunately, his courage didn't last very long. He couldn't deny that it was dark, quiet, difficult, close, and, by all definitions, unnatural. All of these things churned and bubbled into a frothing fear. Tim began to panic; his feet steadily picked up speed. Without realizing it, he'd broken into a complete rush in one direction, somehow avoiding the fibrous trees in front of him with startling evasiveness. He leapt over a fallen trunk and continued to run until the ground abruptly changed. The difference was only about a step below the floor, but it was enough to send him flying forward.

"_Yeow!"_ Clipped short by a fall forward onto his face, his cry combined with the impact was enough to shock him out of his terror and back into reality. For a few seconds, his mind was swimming, dazed and confused. When he settled, he brought himself to his feet and surveyed his environment to the best of his ability. Behind him lay the endless forest he realized he'd escaped from. Every other direction, though blotted out in the inky mire, seemed to be open for miles. This posed a problem: where would he go next?

On the contrary, there wasn't very much to do next at this point. It occurred to him that he was running, and running swiftly with a control he didn't know he had. He did know that he was tired, and needed to rest. And so, he strolled back to the outskirts of the forest and sat against a tree, where remained to catch his breath.

Far, far, far from Tim, one of his classmates was having a time of her own. Dorothy Ann, an analytical girl, had already deduced the nature of some of her surroundings. She was standing on a smooth, hard floor: such a smooth sort of floor didn't tend to occur naturally. Oddly, it also seemed to have a lack of soil or natural elements in its makeup. In fact, it almost felt like a familiar sort of polished wood. This meant that this environment she was in was most likely man-made; which also eliminated many threats from things such as animals and predators. Her ability to have deduced such information from only her sense of touch pleased her greatly.

_With this, I can explore this place I am in with less fear. I've got to tell the others!_ She was about to walk forward, when she stopped in her steps. Where were the others? _What if they are lost in the dark?_

Discomforted, Dorothy Ann put down her book bag and rummaged around through it. Perhaps she may have a flashlight or an implement of the like to give her some light. Disgruntled with the outcome of nothing, she repacked her books into the bag and zipped it closed, sighing in frustration. Suddenly, as if stunned, she froze in place as her memory ignited. First, there was dizziness: she was very high up, and seemed to be- yes, she was falling, and falling far. Then there was a vast, blinding light, then darkness. Everything was blurry after that. A hand had clutched her wrist; she distinctly remembered that. Everything else from there was too hazy to be distinguished. Racking her mind to remember, she reached in vain for more. It became clear that there was nothing left to be remembered for now.

"Oh, think, think, think... why can't I remember anything else?" She muttered in irritation. "Why can't I remember more? Why doesn't memory work like that... well then, I guess I should get on my way."

The blonde girl slung the pack over her shoulders. "If only I had some light...!" Light would have been very convenient about then. Despite being able to use touch so thoroughly to her advantage, she still relied heavily on sight to do everything around her. Then again, what about sound? She knew that she could hear very well. She also knew that she could be heard by everyone else. She stood to her feet and opened her mouth to speak, but was cut off by another voice, though faint, in the distance:

_"Any of you weasly wimps out there? ...Anyone?"_

Dorothy Ann could instantly recognize the owner of the voice. "Wanda?" She mused excitedly. Then she cried out with all her vocal strength, _"Wanda! It's me, Dorothy Ann! Over here!"_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Ralphie, you are always worrying your butt off. Why can't you just _relax?_" The impatient voice of Wanda could be heard, as full of spunk as it ever was, through the abyssal quietude. "You're not afraid of _monsters_, are you?"

A quivering Ralphie swallowed hard. "I know I was in third grade; I always had to sleep with a night-light on near my bed because I always hated the dark." He frowned. "Hey Wanda, weren't you afraid of the dark too?"

"_No,_ because I'm not afraid of anything. There's nothing _in_ the dark that can hurt you, Ralphie; see?" With haughty confidence, she wheeled around to face the darkness a few steps in front of Ralphie and stuck out her tongue, jeering:

"_Nyaaaah!_ Take that, dark! Take that, monsters!"

Ralphie shivered. "Don't make them angry, Wanda! They may chase you-" Wanda didn't hear him; which created a perfect opportunity for Ralphie to pull his trick. Quietly as he could, he snuck up behind her and seized her shoulder with a lightning-fast clutch. "-_like this!_"

Wanda screamed in spite of herself. "_Ralphie, don't ever do that again!_" Embarrassment caused her to turn red in the gloom. Ralphie cackled triumphantly, feeling braver now.

"Chill out, Wanda," he managed between sniggers. "That was just too good to pass up. See? You're just as scared of the dark as I am!"

The girl fumed, yet admitted, "Well, maybe I am." Ralphie continued to laugh. "But at least I wasn't cowering like you were!"

Ralphie knew this was true, and his laughter diminished. Wanda surveyed her environment furtively.

"You know, I bet you anything it's just us out here," Ralphie began to lament. "I bet you the others are some far-away place; alone, lost and scared, and we're just food for the creepy crawly things that live here at night. I bet you we're in some kind of big cave with bats and alligators ready to chew our bones and drink our blood!" By now, he was beginning to panic, and Wanda realized the possible danger of their position at hand.

Though rapidly growing more uneasy, she knew that it was time to take control of the situation. "Ralphie, stop saying those freaky things!" Her hands grasped his shoulders and shook him silly. "You've got to _relax_. Remember? Sometimes you worry more than Arnold does!"

"I can't help it; my imagination goes crazy on me in these kinds of things. And _I don't worry more than Arnold does!_ Nobody worries more than Arnold does." Then he grew pensive. "Poor Arnold... alone out there..."

Wanda slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand. "All right, that's it. Somebody will hear us if we cry out."

"You know, that's not a bad idea... I'll cover my ears..." Ralphie turned away from her as she took a deep breath, and then shouted into the air:

"_Any of you weasly wimps out there?_" and then added, "_Anyone?_"

For a moment, they stopped and waited for a reply. For a moment, it all seemed to be useless, until the crucial moment finally occurred: a faint cry seemed to emanate from their far left. It was the voice of another classmate.

"_Wanda, it's me, Dorothy Ann! Over here..."_

For a moment, Wanda and Ralphie were silent, stunned by the success of their attempt. It was Ralphie who spoke first.

"Is it just me, or was that Dorothy Ann just back there?"

Wanda' face broke into a huge smile. "Ralphie, do you know what this means?"

Ralphie shared her excitement, audible in his voice. "The others are okay! They've got to be around here somewhere!" They took each other's wrists and danced for joy, laughing all the way.

"Come on, Wanda!" Ralphie pointed in the direction of the voice. "Let's go find DA!"

And so they began to run. At semi-frequent intervals, they would call back and forth to each other to ensure their movement was toward the right direction; Dorothy Ann's voice gradually grew louder as they went. Presently, the two slowed to a walk, more out of fatigue from a continued sprint than anything else. The voice of their schoolmate was proof enough that each would all find one other again, and that gave them hope and courage. It was a good feeling which moved them forward.

Meanwhile, Dorothy Ann was moving as well. Guided by Wanda's voice and that of a second party Wanda identified as Ralphie, she ran forward, anxious to see her friends' faces for some company in this engulfing blackout. She slid occasionally on the remarkably smooth, man-made floor, finding there to be little traction between her shoes and it. All of a sudden, there was no floor at all beneath her. She acknowledged this bizarre sensation with a shriek, and vaguely perceived the feeling of falling. It was as if she was moving in slow motion.

At the same moment, Ralphie stopped in his tracks. "Wanda! You didn't just hear that, did you?"

Wanda's eyes were wide with horror. "It was Dorothy Ann- she just screamed! Something happened to her! Ralphie, we have to hurry!"

The two fourth-graders rushed forward as fast as their legs could carry them, crying their friend's name as they did. Anything could have happened to her. Their flight abruptly ceased when Ralphie bashed roughly into something large and solid with his entire form, barely having enough time even to grunt. Dazed, he slumped to the floor and collapsed. Wanda was at his side immediately, terrified for both him and Dorothy Ann.

"Ralphie! Are you okay? DA! Where are you?" She bit her lip, blinking back tears. "Oh, what am I going to do, what am I going to do, what am I going to do..."

"Wanda? Are you down there?"

It was the voice of Dorothy Ann. She sounded rattled at the most, but surprisingly unharmed. Wanda looked around: her voice was very close, but she couldn't pinpoint it.

"DA? Ralphie's been hurt- where _are_ you?" Then she looked up. "Are you above me?"

Indeed, she was; and yet, her speech came from directly above and in front of her at the same time, as if on a raised platform. "I guess so; you're below me, I can hear that. I-"

Wanda cut her off, her voice desperate. "What happened to you?"

"It's okay, Wanda- I think I just fell off of a ledge or platform of some sort. I'm not hurt, though! I seemed to have landed on something soft, like a cushion."

Wanda breathed a sigh of relief. "You scared me, DA! I really thought something had got you or something like that..."

"Never mind me for now. How is Ralphie? Is he hurt?"

"Ralphie? Oh-!" In her excitement, she had almost forgotten about the unconscious Ralphie altogether. "Ralphie, wake up! Ralphie, can you hear me? Can you hear me?" She pinched his shoulder.

"It sounds like he's out cold, Wanda..." There was a short silence as the two considered Ralphie's condition. After a brief discussion, however, they decided that the best thing for him was to let him sleep it out, for although Dorothy Ann felt badly for him, she also felt the great importance of her discovery. "Hey, Wanda, listen for a second!"

"What's up, DA?"

"Feel the floor where you are," Dorothy Ann directed. "And tell me what you feel."

Wanda, still sitting, put her hand upon the ground around her. She hadn't given very much thought to her surroundings until now. Interestingly, the ground's texture felt very familiar. "It feels like wood, like on a hardwood floor!"

"Right! The surface I fell off of felt similar, but it was very smooth. Do you see? Everything here is man-made!"

Bubbling with enthusiasm, Dorothy Ann proceeded to explain the process of her discovery and the meaning behind it. It became apparent to Wanda that nothing could possibly harm them in here, as nothing could exactly live in here. Though a naive assumption in general, it was enough to make her feel better.

"DA," she called the girl above, "How are you going to get down from there?"

Dorothy Ann hesitated. "I don't honestly know. I don't even know how high up I am from the floor."

"Come to think of it, you sound quite high up!" Wanda bit her lip. Indeed, she had to be a good eight feet above them.

"Let's decide that when Ralphie wakes up," Dorothy Ann decided quickly. "It'll be easier with the three of us."


End file.
